Canada's Intercontinental Cup fixture with Ireland is underway from Observatory Lane in Dublin.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, an agressive stand by Irish openers Paul Stirling (107), notching his second first class century, and Gary Wilson (61) gave Ireland a perfect start to the day. Their 155 run opening partnership was headlined by Stirling's superb 116 ball hundered, compiled by 18 boundaries and 2 sixes.

With both openers departing early in the 2nd session, Canada fought back claiming 4 wickets and holding momentum until the 115 run partnership of Kevin O'Brien (79) & Alex Cusack (81) maintained the Irish advantage.

Canadian Captain Jimmy Hansra gave credit to the Irish batting but will look for a better effort from his bowlers.

"Ireland batted really well throughout the day ... Obviously there are some things that we have discussed internally and would like to see improvement upon tomorrow ... we can't take anything away the innings of Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien ... they were fluent."

09.13.11 | 10:20am EDT | At tea, Canada have fought back claiming 4 wickets in the 2nd session. Ireland, however, have maintained the advantage by continuing to score at almost 5 runs per over. An Alex Cusack (46) and Kevin O'Brien (32) 52 run partnership quelled the flow of wickets and the pair appear set to continue their agressive tone. Ireland are 288 / 4 from 62 overs.

09.13.11 | 9:25am EDT | Canada's Manny Aulakh has picked his maiden first class wicket rattling the off stump of Andrew Poynter. Ireland are 213/3 (50 overs). Canada are fighting their way back into this match.

09.13.11 | 8:00am EDT | Ireland's Paul Stirling and Gary Wilson have given Ireland a confident start at lunch under cool and blustering conditions. Scoring at over 4 runs per over the Irish pair have been largely untroubled in the first two hours of play smashing 19 boundaries for their unbeaten stand.

TOUR NOTEABLES

09.12.11 | 10:00am EDT | ICUP preparations for both teams have been affected by adverse weather conditions. Unusually high winds have meant practice was conducted indoors.FORECAST

09.09.11 | 1:00pm EDT | Canadian paceman Henry Osinde was unable to depart with the team from Toronto on Thursday evening due to an unspecified travel document issue.